1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an imaging system. Particularly, the present invention relates to a stereoscopic imaging system in which three dimensional video signals, or the like may be displayed.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the past, various apparatus have been introduced for providing stereoscopic images for enjoyment. Most of these devices were quite cumbersome and usually displayed stereoscopic still images. Some stereoscopic moving image systems have been proposed however. For example, FIG. 10 shows a stereoscopic viewer developed in the 1970's. This system comprised a television receiver 101, which received a signal with left and right image data supplied at alternating fields. The images are viewed through a shutter apparatus 102 equipped with a motor 103 which must time the shutter speed to the rate of field alternation on the television screen via a display driver 104. Via this system three dimensional (3-D) images could be obtained. However, the apparatus is large and clumsy and flicker occurred which obscured total enjoyment of the 3-D effect.
Later, so called VHD type video disks were introduced in a 3-D format. According to this system, 3-D images could be viewed via special shutter glasses worn by a viewer allowing respective images to be seen by each eye, providing a so-called `virtual reality` effect.
Further, on Dec. 5, 1949 a physics paper by Sakae Matsuda was published by Ikeda Shoten (pg. 235) which discussed stereoscopes and stereoscopic imaging.
According to this paper, a person's left eye sees a left hand portion of an object and a right eye sees a right hand portion thereof, combining these two partial views yields a complete image in three dimensional fashion.
Referring to FIG. 11, a representation is shown of a stereoscope utilizing convex lenses for viewing from two sources, as in a person normally seeing an object in binocular fashion. As can be appreciated, each eye sees an image with a left and right component (L,R/L', R') which is resolved as one three dimensional image (L" R").
In the above type of stereoscope, since one eye sees only half of the total fields displayed at a video field speed of 1/60 sec., each eye will see images at a rate of 1/30 sec. At such a rate, considerable flicker is present which degrades appreciation of 3-D viewing.